Monday, June 30, 2014

Robert & Jingjing {the wedding day}

May 10th, 2014 was a moody day, but beautifully so. One minute the sky would open up an unleash tears of joy while in the following few minutes, the sun would shine with all its golden glory, setting all those droplets ablaze-thousands of brilliant sparkling diamonds across the fields and flowers. It was the perfect day for a wedding!

In some cultures, rain on your wedding day symbolizes fertility, cleansing, and renewing. I have always been a lover of the rain, especially on a warm day. Often, during such occasions, you will find me shoeless with my toddler son jumping in puddles during a torrential downpour. Fun!

We often fear the idea of rain on a wedding day, especially where we have spent months planning the perfect ceremony under a canopy of trees for all of our guests to relish in the sight and sounds of nature while we take our wedding vows. This was Jinging's dream wedding. Outside under the trees against a backdrop of wall climbing ivy at the Goodstone Inn and Restaurant in Middleburg Virginia, in a stunning gown with one of the most gorgeous trains I have ever seen.

Come rain or shine, this wedding would be a splendid outdoor wedding, one to cherish and remember forever! Before I get to the main event, let's step back and get a glimpse of their beginning, which Robert and Jingjing kindly shared their own images.

Robert always tried to keep in mind the story of Adam, who just focused on responsibilities assigned to him, and God took care of introducing him to his "better half", Eve, when the time was right. So, Robert's and Jingjing's story begins in February 2012 when they first met, just for a few days, in a professional context. After the professional work was finished, they initiated and maintained active daily email correspondence across the Pacific Ocean for six months, got to know each other well, and became good friends.

In July of 2012 Robert met Jingjings family and the following January, Robert, during a trip on January 4, 2013 with Jingjing to Beijing, took a knee and proposed on the Frozen Lake at Bei Hai Park. Of course, she said yes! In Chinese, when the date 2013-1-4 is pronounced, it sounds similar to "ai ni yi shen yi shi", which means "I love you forever"; see this article from BBC about it: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-20909518.

After Robert's proposal, the adventure continued, they visited many of the attractions to be found in Beijing, The Temple of Heaven, being one of their stops on their excursion. Afterwards, they flew to the city of Sanya, on the Hainan island in the South of China, for a small one-week vacation celebrating their engagement.

However, the main implication of this was: their wedding could not take place in Fall 2013 due to Robert's temporary handicap; they would have to wait until the weather turned warmer and nature turned more beautiful: Spring 2014.

But they were wondering: "does that mean that we now have to postpone our plan to have our baby all the way till 2016?". They made the decision: "No. Since they already made a life-long commitment to each other and asked God to bless their union; they would not let the postponement of the formal ceremony interfere with their life plans." And, God gave them a great blessing and great gift for Christmas 2014: their daughter was born on December 27, 2014.

Her first name is Raminta, which means "peaceful" in Robert's native language (Lithuanian), and her middle name is Jingmei, which means "virtuous and beautiful" in Chinese. She is the best baby in the world.
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This is where their story begins...
February 2012

Meeting Jingjing's parents for the first time
July 2012

July 12- Dec 12 Jingjing and Robert visited DC often!

Jingjing and Robert
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool

Bei Hai Park Frozen Lake Proposal
January 4th 2013
"This is the very spot where I proposed, on my knee, and she said "yes", after taking some time to think.." Robert
I thought that quote was entirely too cute and sincere to leave out! A special moment, out of the blue, does cause a moment of surprise, and leaves a you chasing your heart for a moment or two.

Temple of Heaven- Beijing Excursion
January 2013

The City of Sanya
Hainan island in the South of China

City of Sanya
Hainan island in the South of China

City of Sanya
Hainan island in the South of China

A trip to the Windy City- Chicago
October 2013

Glass Eyed Pony Photography's story with Jingjing & Robert began with a pseudo engagement photography session on the outskirts of the Washington Tidal Basin, during peak blooming in April! It was a gorgeous day, perfect for camera work as the it was slightly hazy and overcast. You can visit their Tidal Basin blog entry here, and read more about their pseudo-engagement session. Here is a small sampling from the engagement session.

The dress, gorgeous, hand sequined and embellished- couture to the max. Stunning. Perfection.

The wedding day, simply put, was magic. Diamond Events with Stephanie Dasch and Melissa Bunn was responsible for the event decoration and timeline of events. They did a marvelous job and pulled everything together smoothly even with the ever changing weather. Jessica Pi of Jessica Pi Productions did an amazing job on the videography. You can view Jessica's video, Wedding At The Goodstone, here. Music was provided by Jerry Katz of Moonlight Cabaret.